


Mismatched Identities

by snooperj, TheDarkShadow



Series: Our Last Stand [4]
Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Cameos, Crossover, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-27
Updated: 2013-01-27
Packaged: 2017-11-27 05:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/658379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snooperj/pseuds/snooperj, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkShadow/pseuds/TheDarkShadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint Barton had a lot of identities to use as a Secret Agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. and one of those identities was William Brandt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Closed Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone doesn't know, Ethan Hunt is the main character of the "Mission Impossible" series. During the latest movie, "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol", Jeremy Renner -our very own Hawkeye- had been part of the cast as one part of the group that made Ethan's team. This is a little crossover story that will bring BOTH Clint and Ethan Hunt into our upcoming collaboration "Our Last Stand".
> 
> Cross-posted to ff.net under the author name: Coffee-dono

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short introduction chapter to this installment.

It had been a mission like no other. The change wasn't expected and he was caught off guard when whoever he was targeting used some strange powers that he didn't understand. He was only supposed to get some sort of rock that had supposedly come from space and get it back to a man called "Nick Fury" and that was it; in and out.

But no, things just had to become strange. The moment he saw the man use his powers, a group appeared shortly after: A woman turning invisible, a guy who can stretch his body, a boy who spontaneously combusts and...a thing.

When the fighting erupted he was one of the unlucky ones that had been caught in the crossfire of things. He was thrown back into an alley and he lost the rock he was supposed to recover and ended up going back into the fray one more time to look for it.

What knocked him out was the heat. The boy who was able to spontaneously combust was circling the guy who owned the rock and even if the flames were contained, the heat was not. It was unbearable and it was making his already bleeding wounds bleed even more. He had already called for backup at that time and someone named Coulson said that backup would arrive shortly.

He got as far as he could from the scene but before he knew it, he fell to his knees. He was more tired than he anticipated and things were starting to go black. The last thing that Ethan remembered was a pair of boots stopping in front of him and a familiar voice calling out his name in surprise.


	2. Unexpected Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint arrives at the scene on a rescue mission, seeing someone he was not expecting to see, and injured at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, as you guys probably guessed from the first chapter, we have some special guests for this story - the Fantastic Four - "Mr Fantastic" Reed Richards, "Invisible Woman" Susan Storm-Richards, "Human Torch" Johnny Storm and "The Thing" Ben Grimm. Hope you guys enjoy their cameo appearance as much as we do.

"Barton, we need back-up. One of our agents is down."

During his transport over to the area, Clint Barton wondered why exactly he had even needed to go. Last he heard, the Fantastic Four were on the scene where Dr. Doom was wreaking havoc. And if his sources were correct, the retrieval mission this agent was on was for a rock that was not of their realm.

 _'A little bit like the Tesseract I'd wager?'_  Clint considered before he got back to the task at hand. Why Coulson had asked  _him_  to go, he wasn't sure. At least, not yet. He hopped down from the chopper that had dropped him off at the site, hand firmly grasping his bow in case he needed to take out something.

As he plowed forward into the area, he began to feel the heat that the Human Torch Johnny Storm was emitting bouncing off the walls of the facility where Dr. Doom had used as a base of operations. Clint ducked when a stray fireball swept past his head before he saw an unknown person walking towards him, eventually stumbling to his knees. He had recognized his face before he had casted his head downwards. "...Ethan?" he breathed, actual surprise evident in his voice.

This was unexpected. And Clint thought he had already gotten used to all this lifestyle of expecting the unexpected. It was one of the reasons why he was always being deployed to special missions, often using different alias just to get a "fresh start" and with little meddling. His most recent adventure sent him working alongside an extraordinary agent who went by the name of Ethan Hunt - the exact same Ethan Hunt that was on his knees in front of him looking worse for wear; the same Ethan Hunt that he had sworn to look for after he had shed off his alias that Ethan knew him as - William Brandt.

 _'Well... this really is a surprise,'_  he thought to himself as he hooked his bow to his quiver to free his arms before reaching down to pull Ethan to safety.  _'But it saves me the trouble of having to come find you again,'_  he added as an afterthought. Clint was just relieved to have finally seen him after all this time.


	3. General Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan wakes up in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s medical wings. He's confused but luckily someone's there to get his bearings straight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to wake our favorite spy

The first thing Ethan noticed when he regained consciousness was the fact that he was in some small room that was covered in metal. He was still groggy as he looked around weakly and tried to make sense of where he was. There was a small door to the side with a small glass area to look out from and he raised his head a bit to see what could be seen.

There on the wall just opposite his room he saw some kind of emblem. A bird was it? He couldn't really tell. He was trying to match the emblem with anything he knew but was failing to process anything aside from it being some sort of bird in a circle...oh and that it was in a general shade of blue. Other than that he was drawing up nothing.

Groaning, he then turned his attention to assess his body. There was a needle stuck at the back of his hand that connected him to an IV. On his arms were straps that connected him to the bed. Well that was new. Why was he being held down?

He couldn't make sense of anything, really and it was stressing him out.

"Oh you're awake."

There it is again. That familiar voice. He turned his attention to a door that was seemingly behind his bed. It must have led to a bathroom of some sort since he smelled a hint of floral as he heard the door slide open.

Footsteps were heard and soon he found a very familiar man standing beside his bed.

"Brandt?"

This version of Brandt was different though. He was wearing this awkward sleeveless armor and there were straps on his arm. Something told him that he might just be seeing things and this isn't Brandt at all.

"Sorry. Must be my muddled head..." he muttered in apology. "Where am I?" he asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters," the man answered.

Ethan still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation. What was this SHIELD this guy was talking about? Was it somehow connected to this Nick Fury that had hired him to get the rock?

Wait a minute...the rock! Was he able to get it or-

"Easy, it's right there," Brandt who is not Brandt said as he gestured to the aforementioned rock that was now right there on the table inside a glass cylinder.

Ethan let out a breath of relief.

"Get some more sleep. You'll be debriefed in a few hours," the still unknown man said before heading out of the room. He had an angry look on his face and Ethan wondered if he did something wrong.

With a sigh, he decided that he'd dwell on it later. For now he needed more rest.


	4. Picking Up the Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint prepares to tell Ethan exactly what was going on. But for now, he had to come up with what to say.

A few good hours passed since Clint had left the infirmary - 2 hours to be exact. He had retreated off to his room, debating what to do with the situation. Granted, he was still in silent disbelief about Ethan. He had, after all, disappeared off the face of the earth from Ethan Hunt's life, Clint owed him an explanation.

_'Not that he'd buy it,'_  the marksman scoffed with a shake of his head.

But, regardless, it had to be done. It was the only way Ethan would get a sense of stability and ease; after all, he was just brought to a secret base without really knowing anyone first-hand... except for Clint. It was all part of the debriefing process. That and Director Fury had forced him to do it because the man was apparently a workaholic on asking for missions one after another. And that had to stop.

Clint agreed. After all, no one person - even if this WAS Ethan Hunt we're talking about - would be that interested in working unless they were trying to numb some sort of pain. The problem was trying to pinpoint what that pain was, and Clint had a sneaky suspicion it involved him.

It was, ideally, a good opportunity. Since he had been dying to see Ethan and had plans to see him after this mission, it was literally the best time for them to get things back in order and actually get back on the right foot. So fingers crossed.


	5. Impossible Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ethan finally makes heads and tails of the situation. He wants out.

Ethan looked down at his arms as soon as he had woken up again. His arms were still in restraints and he was seriously starting to think that he was captured instead of rescued. The rock that had been his objective was sitting innocently on the table just in front of him as if mocking him that he had gotten into epic measures of trouble just because of it. This wasn't how things were supposed to go.

Worse of all, he had found himself hallucinating earlier. Or at least he thought he was hallucinating.

He vaguely remembered seeing someone that looked like one of his team mates in the past. Specifically a team mate that he had been looking for. William Brandt; a man he had found out had shadowed him and his wife when they were attacked and lived with the thought that he had been a part of his wife's death.

Well one of those facts were true now. His wife was definitely dead. They had found her and killed her, sending Ethan to a million levels of despair ever since. He hated it. He really did. It was then that he decided to find consolation in someone that had a connection to the past; to his past, specifically.

But he had been looking for a long time and he had nearly given up on the possibility that he would actually find Brandt. After all, the man was also a secret agent like he is. The last piece of information that he had on Brandt was that he had went missing...

...now that he thought about it he had heard something about S.H.I.E.L.D. as well while looking for the guy.

Shaking his head he decided to continue thinking later. He had more pressing matters to attend to: getting his hands free from these forsaken straps. Why the fuck was he strapped in anyway? It wasn't like he was a threat to an organization that had hired him to get an item that ...he still doesn't know about.

Taking approximately 5 minutes, he finally freed his hands and earned a few cuts and bruises in the process. He'll get to that later..for now he needed to get another mission AND figure out where he was exactly.

Grabbing the rock from the table and finding what seemed to be the uniform in that place, Ethan went out into the halls and blended in. He acted as if he knew where he was going when in fact he didn't know where to start. Inwardly sighing, he made his way around until finding someone who was standing alone in the hallway, looking outside and taking notes.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where Director Fury is as of the moment?" he asked. At least he remembered the name.

The guy looked at him before checking his watch. "At this time the Director would be in his office down the hall," he answered as he nodded towards the west end of the hall.

Ethan smiled and nodded his thanks before heading down that direction. He was hoping he'd get answers soon.


	6. Re-Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Decided on what to say, Clint leaves his room to confront Ethan with all these pent-up emotions inside of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for that meeting. And this is the last chapter for our Ethan & Clint story prior to our upcoming collaboration that's long overdue.

Clint took a deep breath and exhaled. It had taken him longer than necessary, but he was more than ready to say his piece. He was on high alert when one of the guards reported that their guest in the infirmary had managed to slip out and quickly stepped out of his room. Looking down both ways, he paused and spotted Ethan at the other end of the hall heading towards him.

 

 _'That was quick,'_  he thought to himself incredulously. He saved wondering who Ethan was looking for; this couldn't wait any longer. Taking a few steps until he was in the middle of the hall, he stood his ground. "Going somewhere?" he asked with a smirk. "No restraints were going to hold you down forever, but I already knew that. So why don't you just give me back the rock and we can talk this out?" he asked, outstretching his hand when he spotted the item in question in Ethan's hands.

Ethan looked at him with an expression as if he had seen a ghost. He gazed at Clint from top to bottom before moving his hand away, placing the rock nearly behind him. "This wasn't supposed to go to you."

"I don't want you getting hurt Ethan," he added, emphasizing a tone of familiarity with the name he had used. "I'll answer all your questions, but you're going to have to give that to me."

"How about you answer my questions first?" Ethan bargained. "Then I'll consider giving this to you."

Clint watched him before he snorted, eventually bursting out laughing. "Just they way I remembered you, Ethan," he said in compliment as he advanced a few steps towards him, hand still outstretched, but angled as if expecting a handshake. "Clint Barton. Though you knew me as William Brandt," he introduced.

Ethan's eyes went wide as soon as Clint introduced (or rather, re-introduced) himself. "Which was the fake name?" he asked carefully, hand still behind him.

Hawkeye surveyed him for a moment before he sighed, lowering his hand. "William," he answered. "But that was only a name. Everything else about me stays the same," he said in reassurance. "I was undercover."

That came as a surprise but it wasn't as devastating at it should have been since Ethan had braced himself for the answer. It made sense really.

"And you work under Director Fury?" he asked.

Clint nodded. "That's right. Also part of the reason why I can't let you keep something like that," he warned, pointing to the rock. "It still needs to be analyzed but you swiped it before we could move it to the labs," he intoned.

Ethan did a second look at Clint before spotting the unmistakable S.H.I.E.L.D. insignia on the man's vest. Slowly, he handed over the rock.

"You disappeared. I thought you were killed in action..."

Clint took the rock and stashed it in his pocket for safe keeping. "I wouldn't have been able to return here if I didn't do that," Clint admitted, shrugging. "But trust me, I've been wanting to clear this matter up with you for quite some time now," he said. "I'm all for starting again. Fresh and without ridicule or lies... but only if you're willing to." Once more, he extended his hand out.

Ethan stared at Clint's hand for a while before slowly reaching over to take and shake it. He then smiled. "Nice to meet you, Agent Barton."


End file.
